Wayward arsonist files for public defender

August 9, 2013

SOUTH KINGSTOWNâA North Kingstown man who was sentenced 25 years ago for arson went before a Superior Court judge Friday, August 2, applying for a public defender. Carleton H. Winsor, 74, appeared at Washington County Superior Court, stating he did not have his own lawyer.

â[The sentencing] should have occurred 23 years ago, but the file has been lying fallow in storage,â said presiding Judge Melanie Wilk Thunberg.
Winsor, who was convicted of setting fire to an ambulance barn in North Kingstown with another person in 1988, appealed the Superior Courtâs decision at the time to the Supreme Court, which was rejected. He was never notified, however, of the courtâs decision.
âWhen I left the state, I waited for 21 years for my appeal,â said Winsor last Friday in court. âI never received anything.â
Thunberg gave Winsor, who had been living in Tallahassee, Florida, 120 days to file notice in order to reduce his sentence. He is not allowed to leave the state and noted that he would be living on Ten Rod Road with a relative.
Winsor is scheduled to appear in court again on Aug. 13.